Day 79 of visiting 100 blogs in 10 days

Matthew Baldwin compiles some great Tricks of the Trade that his readers have sent in...

For every occupation, there is a catalog of secrets only its employees are aware of -- such as how waiters with heavy platters know to look straight ahead, and never down. Armed with a bag of reader mail, Matthew Baldwin unfurls a whole lot more true insider knowledge.

There are choice tricks scattered throughout - not only are they useful, but they certainly add fodder to conversation over dinner or even over beers with friends...

Some of my favorites include:

Ditch Digger

If you and another guy are tasked with digging a ditch, trench, or whatever, always grab the pickaxe. It looks like a lot more work, but you'll only spend about 1/5th of the time swinging the pick than the shmucks with shovels will spend cleaning dirt of out of the hole.

Forester

Never walk behind another person in the woods, because yellow jackets build their nests underground. The first person in line will disturb the nest when they walk over it, but it's the poor suckers trailing behind who catch the wrath of the stirred-up bees. You can generally tell the more experienced forester in the group because he'll be the one in the lead.

The senior forester also will be the one either driving the truck or sitting in the middle seat; it's the guy who's riding "shotgun" who has to get out to open and close every gate they encounter.

Homeowner

If you have people working on your house for a couple of days -- contractor, roofer, landscaper, whatever -- they will often got the extra mile if you buy them a lunch or two. Twenty dollars for two workers usually covers a couple of days, and you will probably get much more than that in return.

Nurse

Patients will occasionally pretend to be unconscious. A surefire way to find them out is to pick up their hand, hold it above their face, and let go. If they smack themselves, they're most likely unconscious; if not, they're faking.

So with these four tricks alone, my back catches a break, I'll never get stung; I could care less if someone always wants to ride shotgun and I'll be able to spot a fake.